House of the Rising Sun

“The House of the Rising Sun” is a traditional folk song. The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by British rock group the Animals, was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and also in the United States and France.

The Ventures included an instrumental version on their 1964 album “Walk Don’t Run Vol. 2”. It was based on the Animals hit, and included both the guitar arpeggios and the prominent organ part. I have heard live versions of the Ventures doing the song, and while they feature the arpeggios, they otherwise take a different approach.

I have used these live versions as my jumping off point. I have also returned the song to it’s original folk meter of 3/4 — the Animals version is in 6/8.